At the Death of a Journalist

The death of a journalist is the death of so many potential stories aimed to reveal the truth. When a journalist dies, the hope of representing the voice of the under-represented dies too. The killing of veteran Al Jazeera American-Palestinian journalist Shirin Abu-Akleh, while reporting in Jenin while wearing a Press-inscribed vest is beyond tragic. And nauseating is also the horrible view of the ambush that took place during her funeral the Friday after.

Reporting about and from the Middle East is complex for all the wrong reasons. Reporting from any place in the world should actually be complex, but the ideological and emotional weight of the reporting in this part of the world, particularly when it comes to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is poisonous.

Journalists die or are under threat all over the world. In one month only, in Ukraine, Russian forces killed five journalists. Others are missing in action. In 2021, 45 journalists were killed in connection with their work, Mexico being considered the most dangerous country for fair and honest reporting. Do we know the names of those journalists? Do we have long-length editorials and media outrage from politicians, diplomats, other journalists, social media users? Rarely so. 

In death, we are all equal, indeed, but when the circumstances of the death are as gruesome than those surrounding the death of Shirin Abu-Akleh, it´s unsatisfactory. I wish all those responsible for the death of journalists should be punished. I wish the circumstances of the death of journalists are investigated and made public. I also wish people make vigils for all the journalists - and academics - rotting in prisons of dictatorships. Are we informed every day a couple of times about the fate of the opposition Belarusian journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend, both EU citizens, who were literally kidnapped from their Ryanair flight? Are people outraged on social media a couple of times the day about them being paraded on the local TVs and forced to confess crimes they never comitted? 

In addition, I also wish myself that the Middle East will be, one day, a normal part of the world, where humans no matter their religion and flag can mourn, report about news, sip quietly their coffee without the need of staining everyhing with ideology and political militantism. It´s suffocating and kills the soul. Something new should happen.